Along with downscaling of semiconductor devices, nanoimprint lithography (hereinafter, also NIL) is developed as an alternative lithography technique to photolithography. In the NIL, a template having concave or convex patterns is pressed against a substrate on which a resist is applied or dripped and then the resist is cured. This transfers the patterns of the template to the resist on the substrate.
In the NIL, when the resist is removed from the template after the resist is cured, tensile stress and shear stress occurs between the template and the resist. At this time, the resist may be stripped from the substrate together with the template. To suppress such resist stripping, the resist is caused to remain between the convex patterns of the template and the substrate to adjust the thickness of a residual layer of the resist (hereinafter, also RLT (Residual Layer Thickness)) between the convex patterns of the template and the substrate. The RLT is generally adjusted according to a pressure at which the template is pressed against the substrate. However, because the resist before curing is liquid, the RLT is likely to vary if the RLT is controlled according to a pressure applied between the template and the substrate. If the RLT of the resist varies, the size, height, taper angle, and the like of the resist may also vary during processing of a base material. When the base material is processed using such a resist as a mask, the size, height, taper angle, and the like of the base material also disadvantageously vary.